Local Police In PA Can’t Use Radar Guns To Ticket Speeding Drivers; Proposed Bill Would Change That

By Dave Lemery | Watchdog.org

Pennsylvania’s status as the only state in the United States that doesn’t let local police use radar detection to identify speeding drivers may be coming to an end.

The proposals currently under consideration by the Pennsylvania House Transportation Committee are far from the first attempts to end the state’s exceptional status. But there seems to be a real chance that the 1961 law that limited radar detection to use by the Pennsylvania State Police will be superseded.

During a committee hearing this week to consider a pair of bills before his committee, Chairman John Taylor indicated that one way or another, they would be sending something on to the full House for consideration.

“We want to give local police the same tools as State Police, and we will try to put out the best bill possible to see that that happens,” Taylor, a Republican from Philadelphia, said at the conclusion of the hearing April 4.

One of the bills in question originated in the Pennsylvania Senate and has already been passed by that chamber. Senate Bill 251, sponsored by state Sen. Randy Vulakovich, R-Glenshaw, was approved on a 46-3 vote in November 2017.

Vulakovich’s bill seeks to address often-stated concerns that enabling the use of radar by municipal police would lead to the establishment of speed traps that serve merely as revenue generators for local communities without consideration of public safety. His bill states that the revenue from speeding tickets could make up no more than 20 percent of a municipality’s budget; anything collected above that threshold would go to the state.

SB251 also requires each municipality that wants to empower its local police force to use radar to pass a local ordinance to that effect. Once such an ordinance is passed, for the first 90 days it’s in effect, officers would only issue warnings to anyone pulled over for speeding using a radar gun.

A number of municipal and police officials from across the state appeared before the committee to speak in favor of SB251 and against a rival bill, House Bill 2148, sponsored by state Rep. Greg Rothman, R-Camp Hill.

Rothman’s bill strengthens the anti-abuse provisions substantially, lowering the threshold at which municipalities would have to turn over revenue from radar-related speeding tickets from 20 percent of the community’s budget to just one percent. HB2148 also constrains the power to use radar as part of a pilot program that would sunset in six years, unless the Legislature renews it, and requires municipalities to conduct engineering and traffic studies on each road where radar is to be used.

Opponents of Rothman’s bill said the provisions were so convoluted that it was doomed to fail.

“The pilot program is a non-starter and a no-win situation,” said Elam Herr, the assistant executive director of government affairs for the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors. “If the police officers or the police department issue too many tickets, the opponents to radar will holler it is a moneymaker. On the other hand, if too few tickets are being issued, the same opponents will say it isn’t needed.”

When representatives of the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association expressed a concern that Rothman’s bill would curtail their existing usage of radar, he made a point of easing their worries.

“The intent of the bill would not affect the state troopers from continuing to use radar on [roads affecting the bill’s municipal requirements],” said Rothman, who is a member of the Transportation Committee.

Arguing against the use of radar for speed enforcement was Jeffrey Williams of the National Motorists Association.

“A majority of the Pennsylvanians that I’ve talked to look at radar and look at speeding citations as revenue enhancement opportunities for their communities, and I really think that we need to make sure that we understand that if we set the speed up as reasonable amounts … we will have safer roads,” Williams said. “Is the deployment of radar to the municipalities really the best way to engage with the local communities?”

Williams suggested that officials should instead look at adjusting speed limits and fighting distracted driving to help improve the safety of Pennsylvania’s roads.

In contrast, James Nowalk, the mayor of Whitehall and president of the Pennsylvania Mayors Association, claimed that only those with an ulterior motive would argue against allowing the use of radar.

“Only lawbreakers and those who would seek to break the law would ever characterize the enforcement of maximum speeds as revenue raising,” Nowalk said. “It is the legislative branch of municipal government that’s responsible for raising revenue, not the executive branch, of which police officers are a part. In Pennsylvania, it is illegal for any legislative body to even suggest that its police officers enforce the maximum speed laws for the purpose of raising revenues.”